Nearly 70 percent of employers want a rollback of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate, according to a new survey from global consulting firm, Mercer.

The ACA requires that employers with 50 or more full-time employees offer affordable insurance to 95 percent of their full-time employees and their dependents or face a penalty. Employees who work an average of 30 or more hours per week are considered full-time, and companies with fewer than 50 employees are exempt. NATSO supports increasing the definition of full-time to 40 hours per week.

More than 80 percent of the 644 employers polled cited significant additional administrative burdens as one of their chief complaints, with 51 percent classifying the administrative burdens as “very significant.”

“It’s not because they don’t want to offer coverage. It’s because proving that they offer coverage is so much work,” said Tracy Watts, Mercer’s leader for health reform.

When asked about the impact of the ACA on their organization, 20 percent of survey respondents said they have experienced higher costs and 29 percent said they have made unwanted plan design changes to avoid excise tax exposure. About one in four respondents said they will cut back on the use of long-term temps and interns, which could trigger an assessment.

Eighty-five percent of employers said they would like to see a repeal of the so-called Cadillac tax, an excise tax on employers that offer high-cost insurance plans. The Cadillac tax is scheduled to go into effect in 2020.

Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman

Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman develops and executes communications strategies to advance NATSO’s public relations and advocacy goals. Tiffany also develops and oversees partnerships related to the NATSO Foundation’s public outreach initiatives. Tiffany lives in the D.C. metro area with her husband and their two sons.More